Author's note Draft 2

If the story does not say draft 2 it's not the final draft

Call out to thewhiteangel213 for being my first review.

Call out to Valen Gonzalez for giving me outstanding ideas for my story.

I love reviewers who review the story and try to figure out what's going on with it. It helps me rethink things about my story and wants to make me try to put it in the story.

Before I forget, this story is heavily influenced by Russian Roulette, it was such a delightful story that it made me want to write my own. So read it, it's outstanding.

Also, I need a beta so if anybody wants to be my beta, or I know somebody who can be it, tell them because I need a beta.

Edited on 10/24/21

Life Worth 0

V-VI

V (Friday the 14th of June 1957. Seventh Ward, New Orleans, United States of America.)

It took Louise nine meetings for Andrei to take her to see where he lived.

Louise always found Andrei in the French Quarter, picking-pocketing people. The first four times, Andrei kept on pick-pocketing people, seeming to know she would not stop him from doing it. The five times, after the first four, he asked her if she wanted to do something else. She always refuses because she instinctively knew he was doing the pick-pocketing for a reason.

That reason turned out to be him needing money for his family.

Finding Roma or Gypsy people in New Orleans, Louisiana, should not be that surprising. Roma people have been in Louisiana since Napoleon deported hundreds of them to Louisiana territory in 1803.

When Louise thought of Roma people, she thinks of a circus or caravan.

What Louise knew about the Roma people was that they were nomadic people. And mostly she was right, but after World War II the Roma people thought it'll be much safer to migrate to America. Because it was much safer than Europe, and some of their people already had rooted there.

In the Seventh Ward, the Roma had taken over a neighborhood like a cypress community did in the Ninth Ward.

Before walking into the neighborhood, Andrei presents a list of things I should not ask or say in the neighborhood.

1 Do not say the word Gypsy.

2 Do not call someone a Gypsy.

3 Do not ask someone if they are a fortune-teller.

4 Do not ask to have ever worked in a circus.

5 Do not ask why they now live in America.

I asked why I can't say or call someone a Gypsy. His response to that was to give me an angry but sad face and to tell me, "The word gypsy to Roma people is like saying the word nigger to an African American."

That honesty surprises me because even in the 2000s New Orleans still uses the word gypsy as the name of the Roma people.

And it made me understand his feelings about the word. It was like being called black or Indian by Caucasian people.

To make him know I understood his feeling, I told him about how I don't like the Mardi Gras Indian. And how most of the time the costumes look like our traditional wear and being named Indian was an insult, and how when people call the outfit that name it was like insulting our traditional wear.

He didn't seem all that surprised to find out one of my parents is Native American.

When they got to the neighborhood, it seemed like a whole unfamiliar country compared to the rest of the seventh ward. Before, Ivory's mother forbidden her from going outside and playing and instead, she studies for her doctorate; she used to run around with her friends and explore all the wards of New Orleans. So she knew what the 2000s New Orleans seventh ward and 1957 seventh ward to look like. The ward didn't look that much different from each other.

Even though New Orleans first through the sixth ward is vibrant with bright colors, the seventh ward was not. The ward in either time period was always primary color and was the place with dull coloring. But Andrei neighborhood looks like a run-down version of the French Quarter. Even with the houses looking like they will collapse into themselves, they painted them with shushing are vibrant colors.

Looking around the ward makes me realize that it just not the African Americans and Native Americans that are the only races who having it hard in New Orleans.

The cypress community might seem like it is living it up for a discriminated people in America; but it only looks like that because they grow most of the things they eat, make most of the things they use, fix things that can be fixed. The thing they can't make or do themselves are budget and made funds for the thing by Ista.

In the neighborhood, there were a lot of Roma people, but you can tell that a lot of the young kids are of mixed heritage, but that's not so surprising when you look at Andrei with his cocoa brown skin color being the only thing to note him to be of African American descent.

We passed most of the better-looking houses to the most run-down house in the neighborhood and stop this yellow house with a burgundy roof.

When Andrei walks inside, it makes me realize this is his home. Inside, I came to the living room with three doors attached to it. Andrew was telling me where the doors go to. It goes to a tiny kitchen, bathroom, and an area for the family to sleep. His family slept all in one room, he told me. He said that it was only his mother, father, and a little sister who lived here.

Listing to him tell me they will only come here when his father and mother are at work and when his sister is with the grandparents of the neighborhood did not bother me.

He told me we would spend the time hanging out in the sleeping area. Because the living room was not all safe to be in.

Later on, looking back at those types of comments and thinking about them and how I didn't ask more about them makes me want to laugh at how much of an idiot I was when I was younger.

Going into the sleeping area made me realize it was the biggest room in the entire house. In there were two beds, two dressers, and one mirror in that room.

Looking at all the things in that room made me realize the reason he pickpocketed was that it's probably is the only way he can get money. He most likely uses it for the entire family and not for himself.

Even though my family is not living the high life, we are living better than his family. And realizing the reason my family is living better makes me think of other ways to help him.

"Do you want me to teach you how to grow food?" I said, interrupting him explaining his family.

"No, not really, and even if I want to learn where when I grow food," he said, probably already guessed why I ask.

"Do you want to learn how to make stuff for your own house, stuff you usually need to buy?" I ask next, being very obvious so the reason I am asking, by looking around his home.

"What type of things?" he said now looking interested in what I have to say.

Now hearing interest and his voice made me look straight into his eyes. Looking in his eyes made me see this spark in them that told me what I told my family was finally happening.

VI (Monday the 17th of June 1957. French Quarter, New Orleans, United States of America.)

The first time they arrested Andrei was on a very windy day.

The day starts with me getting permission to go to the French Quarter. It was such an unusual thing for me to ask permission to go somewhere. That my parents stop what they were doing to think about the answer. My parents usually have enough trust in me, they only need to know what I'm doing, but now they need to know where I am at all times.

The month of June in New Orleans is the month that starts off hurricane season, and this year seems to be the year a hurricane will hit the city.

Even since last Friday, when I got home from Andrei's house, Ista had been talking about plans for hurricane season. And the responsibility me and my siblings will take on.

The plan was very simple. The plan was to have all non-Native Americans and members of the community that do not look Native play the front of is an evacuating group. While it will hold the Native American members and the ones that look Native up in hidden compartments in the trucks, to not let the community be noticed. Because of this plan, the community has been making hidden compartments in the trucks and buying more trucks.

Everybody in the community has been helping with something that will help during the evacuation.

Because my family started the community, the members of the community look to my family to lead them through the problems the community is facing. My parents have put my siblings and me in charge of our own groups.

Members younger than 15 have been watching the members younger than five, and the members between the two ages have been helping everybody collect what we need to evacuate.

As a member of my family, it's been my job is to organize the children of age seven and six. My group was a helping hand for any other age group.

Neil's group of eleven thought eight years old has been responsible for making sure we had enough food, water, and clothing packed up for the evacuation.

Halona's group of twelve years old has been responsible for organizing money into a group of spenders.

Luthor group are the eighteen, seventeen, sixteen years old have been responsible for the animal and farming. It has decided the animal that the older ones are to be killed, and the younger ones are to be caged. We have decided on the farm that we will take the seeds and food that will not sprawl right away.

Ista has split the adults up into two groups. One group is responsible for going out into the city and buy things we do not have for the evacuation and to sell the surplus of things we do not need, or can't bring along. The other group boards up the houses in the neighborhood and the community and makes hidden compartments on the trucks.

Instead of saying yes or no, Ista asked me, "who's going to be in charge of your group" "Lynda" I said, Then she asked me, "how are you going to get there?" "I will go out with Dad and his group" By the look on her face, she was not pleased with my answer.

Then she asked me, "How will you get back?"

"The bus"

"With what money" With the tone with which she asks that question, I could tell she was just humoring me like she didn't expect me to have the money.

"My money" While saying that I wished I snapped my fingers. But I'm happy I didn't, because I knew she definitely said no if I did.

"What money" Now she was crossing her arm in a challenging pose. Ista might not be African American, but she sure picked up a thing from Louis's mom when she was staying with her.

"The money I've been storing up for snacks for my treehouse" While saying this I put my arms behind my back just to make sure I did not challenge her by doing the same pose.

"What will you be doing in the French Quarter?" Now she was just fishing for information.

"Going to see Andrei" While saying this, Louis has given me this look that said if he didn't trust me enough, Andrei would have met his gun.

"Don't you think his family will be busy preparing for the evacuation?" Now she was saying things just to see if I had to answer to it?

"Yes, but I want to see at least that they got a plan, and they got everything they need for it," That answer told her that I'm going to have an answer to everything she asks, and an explanation to go with it.

Ista looked at me for a long time after that answer. I could tell by the look on her face she was going to say no, but before she could say it, Louis interrupted her and told me I could go. The only thing I could think of that moment was Louis for the win.

Leaving the Louis group was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Louis made me promise him that instead of me trying to find my way back to the community, I'll go to his house and wait for him there. He made me promise to be back there by five PM.

After doing that, I made sure I when straight to the French Quarter. I'm wandering around until I finally found Andrei picking pockets by the fish market. There were few people at the fish market that day. It was too windy to be out. That probably meant Andrei hasn't picked many people that day.

Maybe it was because of the stress of the oncoming hurricane, or maybe he wasn't just thinking, but he got caught picking-pocketing this man who looks like he should have someone drive him around, not walking in the wind. The man made a big scene about caught Andrei. Such a scene that caught the attention of the fuzz.

Usually, when Andrei is pick-pocketing, he does it in a crowd. It is harder for people to see him.

You could tell the whole situation stunned Andrei. Getting that, he didn't run away when the two police started to handcuff him.

I think the moment Andrew realized what was happening to him was when he looked at me. I must have shown on my face how terrified I will be for him. In this time period, being any but Caucasian and giving caught for any crime can ruin your life.

Looking back at that moment, it, it must be the moment that Andrei and I harmonized.

I started panicking, look at him taking away. The next few moments made me realize I was too impulsive, that I was an idiot, that I should have thought through that more than I had at that moment, that I could have ruined my life with his. But by the end of the day, I was happy I didn't think that did what I did next.

What I did next probably wouldn't have worked if they saw me coming. But from my point of view, I was behind them. What I did next was run full force between the cop who was holding on to Andrei and the handcuffs. By doing this, I gave Andrei the chance to be free from the cops.

Andrei's seen he was now free and gave me a long look before running in the opposite direction of me. Realizing now that the intention was on my run. One cop went after Andrei and the other one when after me. What I did next was on instinct. I ran to this building that I knew to have a fire escape for me to climb, thinking that I could lose him that way.

By the time I was on top of the roof, the cop was one-fourth wait up the fire escape. See, I had time to think, and I look around for Andrei. Andrei was three blocks away from me. After seeing that, I look to see where my cop was at. The cop was halfway up the fire escape. After seeing that, I ran in the direction Andrew was running.

Doing that was pretty hard because of jumping from building to building and the wind blowing around. See me jump from building to building and my cop far behind Andrei, looking for a way to get on the roof himself. He saw a fire escape stick on the next building he was going to be across, so you made a beeline to climb up it. Andrei was less agile than me, so it took him a little to get up on the roofing himself. By the time he almost got up on top, I was on the building giving him a hand.

When we both were on top, his cop was not that many feet behind. So we started running again. I looked back to see where my cop was and could see him two roofs away from us. We kept running on the rooftops. By the time there were not too many buildings left, we looked back to see where the cops were when we saw there were no cops in sight, giving us the okay we have lost them.

As Andrei and I caught, our breath got off the building, we made plans for the rest of the week to keep parkour. But before we both when home, we share one long look expressing all the things we couldn't say at that moment on how we felt about the entire experience.

But we didn't go back to the French Quarter the rest of that week before we had to evacuate. Because the cops put warrants out with poor descriptions of me and Andrei. And we would not take the chance that they could catch us.

So we spent the rest of that week parkouring on houses in the other wards.

Author's note :

Now on to facts

• The word Gypsy is an insult to the Roma people.

• Napoleon deported hundreds of Roma people to Louisiana in 1803.

• Lots of Roma people decided that America would be far better than Europe.